Prop. T Wins by 64 Votes in Final Ballot Count : Election: Passage of the $23-million bond measure to upgrade Santa Monica College prompted ‘a lot of whooping and hollering’ on campus.

Santa Monica College’s $23-million capital improvements bond measure, Proposition T, has apparently been approved by voters. Final unofficial results from the Nov. 3 election, including absentee ballots, showed the measure supported by 66.8% of the 47,914 voters who cast ballots in the community college district, which includes Santa Monica and Malibu, according to Grace Romero, spokeswoman for the County Registrar-Recorder’s Office.

A two-thirds majority, or 66.67%, is needed for approval of such a bond measure. Proposition T exceeded that with 64 votes to spare.

The results will not be official until certified by the County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Romero said.

College officials celebrated after receiving the final update.

“There was a lot of whooping and hollering here today,” college spokesman Bruce Smith said Thursday.

College officials watched the approval margin shrink from 223 votes the day after the election to 43 votes last week as the tally of the county’s 170,000 absentee and provisional ballots unfolded.

College President Richard Moore said that on days the registrar-recorder’s office had scheduled updates of the tally, he tended to wake up and start worrying at about 3 a.m.

“You just had to sit and hold your breath,” he said. “I can tell you, there’s nothing on television at 3 a.m.”

But on Thursday, a jubilant Moore said that “the college has cemented a wonderful partnership” with the community.

Moore plans to establish committees that will oversee the three projects to be paid with bond revenues: expanding the library, modernizing science facilities, and bringing the satellite Madison campus up to current safety and handicapped accessibility standards.

He plans to invite community members to participate. He also thanked campaign donors and more than 140 volunteers, mostly teachers, who helped with the Proposition T campaign.

“One of the neat things about coming in this close was that everyone knew their work counted,” he said. “Every dollar was needed, every phone call, every person who walked precincts. If everyone hadn’t done what they did, we would not have won.”